Malawi National association of the Deaf (MANAD) launched the first Malawian Sign Language dictionary on 24th November, 2022 at Chancellor College, the great hall, Zomba.

MANAD with the support from Finish Association of the deaf (FAD) and the government of finish published the Malawian Sign Language dictionary with the aim of promoting sign language in Malawi.

Sign language is the major language used by the deaf societies. The dictionary will help to bridge the gap between the hearing community and the deaf community.

The Malawian sign language dictionary is the first book edition comprises of different signs generated from Malawi. The book contains a collection of local signs and some indigenous signs that were collected in some of the districts across the country.

The target of the dictionary is to influence the use of sign language. Sign language is the major language commonly used by the deaf societies across the world. Every country on the globe has a deaf society on their peak and here in Malawi the deaf societies are of a large content hence sign language is very important amongst these societies.

The deaf societies faces a number of challenges as far as communication is concerned for instance for a deaf person to pass on information, he/she has to communicate through the Sign language interpreter, an interpreter is the person who is not deaf but has the knowledge and capacity to understand sign language and here in Malawi the Sign language interpreters are a few in number as compared to the deaf societies hence there is need to influence sign language.

The dictionary will minimize the gap between the hearing communities and the deaf communities. This will give an opportunity to people to learn sign language for communication purposes.

Malawi National Association of the Deaf (MANAD) is an organization aimed at lobbying and fighting for equal rights and equal opportunities for the deaf people. MANAD also lobby for sign language awareness and the Malawian sign language dictionary is one of the project that MANAD worked on.

Let us all join hands in supporting the Malawian Sign Language and bridge the gap between the deaf community and the hearing community through sign language.

Meanwhile MANAD have appealed to well-wishers to assist in printing of the Dictionary so that it is accessible to many People.